Broomand Dustpan

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1. Remove any visible debris, like big chunks of dust or wads of hair, by hand. In the photo above, you see my broom head before and after completing this step. My broom was recently used to clean some vents in the garage, so the dirt was all linty and easy to remove manually, but if you have a lot of hair or smaller debris on yours, use an old, wide-toothed comb.

Dirtybroom

Lindsey Ellefson is Lifehacker’s Features Editor. She currently covers study and productivity hacks, as well as household and digital decluttering, and oversees the freelancers on the sex and relationships beat. She spent most of her pre-Lifehacker career covering media and politics for outlets like Us Weekly, CNN, The Daily Dot, Mashable, Glamour, and InStyle. In recent years, her freelancing has focused on drug use and the overdose crisis, with pieces appearing in Vanity Fair, WIRED, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, and more. Her story for BuzzFeed News won the 2022 American Journalism Online award for Best Debunking of Fake News.

BroomStick

Once your half hour has elapsed, rinse the head and dust pan under running water to get the soap out, then shake them before reattaching the head to the handle. Hang or prop it upside down to dry it completely.

While your broom head is soaking, you have some time to clean the handle, which you should disinfect. I disinfected mine with Lysol, but some of the garage-acquired grime wasn’t coming off, so I dipped a paper towel into the sudsy bath water to loosen it before disinfecting again. Broom handles are actually high-touch surfaces and you really only interact with them when you’re cleaning up household messes, so they can get really germy. While you only need to clean the head every three months or so, you should wipe down the handle after every use.

In addition to her journalism, Lindsey is a student at the NYU School of Global Public Health, where she is working toward her Master of Public Health and conducting research on media bias in reporting on substance use with the Opioid Policy Institute’s Reporting on Addiction initiative. She is also a Schwinn-certified spin class teacher. She won a 2023 Dunkin’ Donuts contest that earned her a year of free coffee. Lindsey lives in New York, NY.

Lindsey Ellefson is Lifehacker’s Features Editor. She currently covers study and productivity hacks, as well as household and digital decluttering, and oversees the freelancers on the sex and relationships beat. She spent most of her pre-Lifehacker career covering media and politics for outlets like Us Weekly, CNN, The Daily Dot, Mashable, Glamour, and InStyle. In recent years, her freelancing has focused on drug use and the overdose crisis, with pieces appearing in Vanity Fair, WIRED, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, and more. Her story for BuzzFeed News won the 2022 American Journalism Online award for Best Debunking of Fake News.In addition to her journalism, Lindsey is a student at the NYU School of Global Public Health, where she is working toward her Master of Public Health and conducting research on media bias in reporting on substance use with the Opioid Policy Institute’s Reporting on Addiction initiative. She is also a Schwinn-certified spin class teacher. She won a 2023 Dunkin’ Donuts contest that earned her a year of free coffee. Lindsey lives in New York, NY.

Cleaning brooms and brushes

First of all, your broom more than likely screws apart, revealing two distinct parts: A bristly head and a long handle. Both of these are dirty, but the head makes your floors dirtier and the handle does the same to your hands. Let’s start with how to clean the head, per home cleaning company Maids by Trade:

How tocleanabroom withvinegar

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You have to clean your broom. Yes, your broom is for cleaning, but even things that are for cleaning need to be cleaned themselves. You shouldn’t be pushing a dirty tool around on the floor, expecting it not to impede your quest to stop the floor from being dirty. Clean brooms are more effective, so it’s worth it to take some time to spruce yours up—especially if it’s been a while (or ever) since you’ve done so. Here’s what you need to do.

Once it’s dry, you should think about how to keep your broom tidy. Storing your broom correctly is important for keeping it clean. If you can, hang it using a designated holder so the bristles don’t touch the floor when it’s not in use. Don’t store it in your dark closet until it’s totally dry after its bath, either; you don’t want mold or mildew to accumulate in the bristles.

How tocleanplasticbroombristles

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3. Throw your dust pan in there, too, if you have one, and use a cleaning brush to scrub in its corners before leaving it to soak with the head. Don’t forget to scrub at the head with the cleaning brush a bit, too. (And, eventually, wash the cleaning brush in a similar manner.)

2. Soak the broom head in warm, soapy water for about 30 minutes. I used dish soap, but didn’t have a bucket. Luckily, my time at Lifehacker has trained me to see my bathtub as an extra-large cleaning bucket, so I just plopped it in there like I would my oven racks. Maids by Trade is clear that it doesn’t matter if your bristle material is natural or synthetic; both can be cleaned with a long soak.